Anybody ever put a bolt on dol fin on their outdrive? I'm wondering what kind of difference it really made. The manufacturer treats it like the magic elixer. It planes faster, rides smoother, saves up to 30% on fuel, and it will even tie your shoes......

What are your experiences with this?

I had one on my 12 fter with 25 hp and my 16 ft with 70hp and i worked great. on the 12fter it got rid of the bow rise when taking off and alowed me to plane at slower speeds saving fuel. great for smaller boats but i would op for trim tabs on larger boats.

I have used a similar fin called Stingray in two applications....Volvo 125 on a 21ft Bayliner and 6hp Johnson on a 11ft flatbottom. In both cases I liked the result. Faster planing and holding a plane at lower speed (nice in rough water). I'd recommend one if your power is on the low side for your boat, however if you have plenty of power it may hurt your top end and you don't really need it.

I used one on a Searay 21.5 Express Cruiser. Big, heavy, deep boat. It made planing much quicker and seemed to help keep on plane when cornering. I'd recommend it for that use. I had the model with the built in trolling plate that swung down. It used a brass pin that would break and release the plate if you forgot to raise it after fishing. This feature was crap. The pin would break even at trolling speed. A constant headache.

Well, it sounds like most of you have had good experiences with it. The reason that I wanted to add the dol fin was because the boat took some time to get up on a plane after I added the kicker motor. The kicker is only a 9.8 hp motor and probably only weighs 70lbs.

I know it sounds weird. My dad told me I was probably just being retarded and didn't have the outdrive all the way down. Well, he might be right, but I don't think it will hurt and it sure beats $400 for hydraulic trim tabs....

I really notice my doel fin when I have the boat loaded down with dive gear and an extra person or so. It will help lift the drive out of the water as speed increases, the result of this is that at top end the true waterline on your boat will be a little longer (bow deeper in the water) so the resulting friction slows the boat down and on my boat I lost about one MPH off the topend. 23.5mph to 22.7. I also have trim tabs and the doel fin is much better than the tabs. If its just the two of us and no dive gear I do not even use the tabs any more and the bow stays way lower. The attitude stays level and pops strait up out of the water level the whole time. If I have a huge load (4 divers and gear) then I have to use the tabs but i can still get up on a plane and step out at 21.5 -22mph... Before the fin I could not get up on a plane with 3 divers and 2 passengers...

I have a 2150 bayliner cabin (mini) cruiser with a 131hp volvo ( way underpowerd). A very deep V boat and about 3800lbs light wet.

I think you will like it... I plan to try one on my 12 ft livingston with a 15hp to see if it will keep the bow down...



still would like to take a look at that trailer...